Catholic Church Mass Readings for Thursday, April 1, 2021: Holy Thursday

Catholic Church Mass Readings for Thursday, April 1, 2021: Holy Thursday

Lectionary: 39

Reading I

Ex 12:1-8, 11-14

The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, 

“This month shall stand at the head of your calendar; 

you shall reckon it the first month of the year.

Tell the whole community of Israel: 

On the tenth of this month every one of your families

must procure for itself a lamb, one apiece for each household.

If a family is too small for a whole lamb, 

it shall join the nearest household in procuring one 

and shall share in the lamb 

in proportion to the number of persons who partake of it.

The lamb must be a year-old male and without blemish.

You may take it from either the sheep or the goats.

You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, 

and then, with the whole assembly of Israel present, 

it shall be slaughtered during the evening twilight.

They shall take some of its blood 

and apply it to the two doorposts and the lintel 

of every house in which they partake of the lamb.

That same night they shall eat its roasted flesh 

with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

“This is how you are to eat it: 

with your loins girt, sandals on your feet and your staff in hand,

you shall eat like those who are in flight.

It is the Passover of the LORD.

For on this same night I will go through Egypt, 

striking down every firstborn of the land, both man and beast,

and executing judgment on all the gods of Egypt—I, the LORD!

But the blood will mark the houses where you are.

Seeing the blood, I will pass over you; 

thus, when I strike the land of Egypt, 

no destructive blow will come upon you.

“This day shall be a memorial feast for you, 

which all your generations shall celebrate 

with pilgrimage to the LORD, as a perpetual institution.”

Responsorial Psalm

116:12-13, 15-16bc, 17-18

R. (cf. 1 Cor 10:16)  Our blessing-cup is a communion with the Blood of Christ.

How shall I make a return to the LORD

    for all the good he has done for me?

The cup of salvation I will take up,

    and I will call upon the name of the LORD.

R. Our blessing-cup is a communion with the Blood of Christ.

Precious in the eyes of the LORD

    is the death of his faithful ones.

I am your servant, the son of your handmaid;

    you have loosed my bonds.

R. Our blessing-cup is a communion with the Blood of Christ.

To you will I offer sacrifice of thanksgiving,

    and I will call upon the name of the LORD.

My vows to the LORD I will pay

    in the presence of all his people.

R. Our blessing-cup is a communion with the Blood of Christ.

Reading II

1 Cor 11:23-26

Brothers and sisters:

I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, 

that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, 

took bread, and, after he had given thanks,

broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you.

Do this in remembrance of me.”

In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, 

“This cup is the new covenant in my blood.

Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, 

you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes.

Verse Before the Gospel

Jn 13:34

I give you a new commandment, says the Lord:

love one another as I have loved you.

Gospel

Jn 13:1-15

Before the feast of Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come

to pass from this world to the Father.

He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end.

The devil had already induced Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot, to hand him over.

So, during supper, 

fully aware that the Father had put everything into his power 

and that he had come from God and was returning to God, 

he rose from supper and took off his outer garments.

He took a towel and tied it around his waist.

Then he poured water into a basin 

and began to wash the disciples’ feet 

and dry them with the towel around his waist.

He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, 

“Master, are you going to wash my feet?”

Jesus answered and said to him,

“What I am doing, you do not understand now,

but you will understand later.”

Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.”

Jesus answered him, 

“Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me.”

Simon Peter said to him, 

“Master, then not only my feet, but my hands and head as well.”

Jesus said to him, 

“Whoever has bathed has no need except to have his feet washed,

     for he is clean all over; 

so you are clean, but not all.”

For he knew who would betray him;

for this reason, he said, “Not all of you are clean.”

So when he had washed their feet 

and put his garments back on and reclined at table again, 

he said to them, “Do you realize what I have done for you?

You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master,’  and rightly so, for indeed I am.

If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, 

you ought to wash one another’s feet.

I have given you a model to follow, 

so that as I have done for you, you should also do.”

Catholic Church Mass Readings for Wednesday, March 31, 2021: Wednesday of Holy Week

Catholic Church Mass Readings for Wednesday, March 31, 2021: Wednesday of Holy Week

Lectionary: 259

Reading I

Is 50:4-9a

The Lord GOD has given me 

    a well-trained tongue,

That I might know how to speak to the weary

    a word that will rouse them.

Morning after morning

    he opens my ear that I may hear;

And I have not rebelled,

    have not turned back.

I gave my back to those who beat me,

    my cheeks to those who plucked my beard;

My face I did not shield

    from buffets and spitting.

The Lord GOD is my help,

    therefore I am not disgraced;

I have set my face like flint,

    knowing that I shall not be put to shame.

He is near who upholds my right;

    if anyone wishes to oppose me,

    let us appear together.

Who disputes my right?

    Let him confront me.

See, the Lord GOD is my help;

    who will prove me wrong?

Responsorial Psalm

69:8-10, 21-22, 31 and 33-34

R.    (14c)  Lord, in your great love, answer me.

For your sake I bear insult,

    and shame covers my face.

I have become an outcast to my brothers,

    a stranger to my mother’s sons,

because zeal for your house consumes me,

    and the insults of those who blaspheme you fall upon me.

R.    Lord, in your great love, answer me.

Insult has broken my heart, and I am weak,

    I looked for sympathy, but there was none;

    for consolers, not one could I find.

Rather they put gall in my food,

    and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

R.    Lord, in your great love, answer me.

I will praise the name of God in song,

    and I will glorify him with thanksgiving:

“See, you lowly ones, and be glad;

    you who seek God, may your hearts revive!

For the LORD hears the poor,

    and his own who are in bonds he spurns not.”

R.    Lord, in your great love, answer me.

Verse before the Gospel

Hail to you, our King;

you alone are compassionate with our errors.

OR:

Hail to you, our King, obedient to the Father;

you were led to your crucifixion like a gentle lamb to the slaughter.

Gospel

Mt 26:14-25

One of the Twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, 

went to the chief priests and said,

“What are you willing to give me

if I hand him over to you?”

They paid him thirty pieces of silver,

and from that time on he looked for an opportunity to hand him over.

On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread,

the disciples approached Jesus and said,

“Where do you want us to prepare

for you to eat the Passover?”

He said,

“Go into the city to a certain man and tell him,

‘The teacher says, My appointed time draws near; 

in your house I shall celebrate the Passover with my disciples.”‘“

The disciples then did as Jesus had ordered,

and prepared the Passover.

When it was evening,

he reclined at table with the Twelve.

And while they were eating, he said, 

“Amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me.”

Deeply distressed at this,

they began to say to him one after another,

“Surely it is not I, Lord?”

He said in reply,

“He who has dipped his hand into the dish with me

is the one who will betray me.

The Son of Man indeed goes, as it is written of him,

but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed.

It would be better for that man if he had never been born.”

Then Judas, his betrayer, said in reply,

“Surely it is not I, Rabbi?”

He answered, “You have said so.”

Catholic Church Mass Readings for Tuesday, March 30, 2021: Tuesday of Holy Week

Catholic Church Mass Readings for Tuesday, March 30, 2021: Tuesday of Holy Week

Lectionary: 258

Reading I

Is 49:1-6

Hear me, O islands,

    listen, O distant peoples.

The LORD called me from birth,

    from my mother’s womb he gave me my name.

He made of me a sharp-edged sword

    and concealed me in the shadow of his arm.

He made me a polished arrow,

    in his quiver he hid me.

You are my servant, he said to me,

    Israel, through whom I show my glory.

Though I thought I had toiled in vain,

    and for nothing, uselessly, spent my strength,

Yet my reward is with the LORD,

    my recompense is with my God.

For now the LORD has spoken

    who formed me as his servant from the womb,

That Jacob may be brought back to him

    and Israel gathered to him;

And I am made glorious in the sight of the LORD,

    and my God is now my strength!

It is too little, he says, for you to be my servant,

    to raise up the tribes of Jacob,

    and restore the survivors of Israel;

I will make you a light to the nations,

    that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.

Responsorial Psalm

71:1-2, 3-4a, 5ab-6ab, 15 and 17

R.    (see 15ab)  I will sing of your salvation.

In you, O LORD, I take refuge;

    let me never be put to shame.

In your justice rescue me, and deliver me;

    incline your ear to me, and save me.

R.    I will sing of your salvation.

Be my rock of refuge,

    a stronghold to give me safety,

    for you are my rock and my fortress.

O my God, rescue me from the hand of the wicked.

R.    I will sing of your salvation.

For you are my hope, O LORD;

    my trust, O God, from my youth.

On you I depend from birth;

    from my mother’s womb you are my strength.

R.    I will sing of your salvation.

My mouth shall declare your justice,

    day by day your salvation.

O God, you have taught me from my youth,

    and till the present I proclaim your wondrous deeds.

R.    I will sing of your salvation.

Verse before the Gospel

Hail to you, our King, obedient to the Father;

you were led to your crucifixion like a gentle lamb to the slaughter.

Gospel

Jn 13:21-33, 36-38

Reclining at table with his disciples, Jesus was deeply troubled and testified,

“Amen, amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me.”

The disciples looked at one another, at a loss as to whom he meant.

One of his disciples, the one whom Jesus loved,

was reclining at Jesus’ side.

So Simon Peter nodded to him to find out whom he meant.

He leaned back against Jesus’ chest and said to him,

“Master, who is it?”

Jesus answered,

“It is the one to whom I hand the morsel after I have dipped it.”

So he dipped the morsel and took it and handed it to Judas,

son of Simon the Iscariot.

After Judas took the morsel, Satan entered him.

So Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.”

Now none of those reclining at table realized why he said this to him.

Some thought that since Judas kept the money bag, Jesus had told him,

“Buy what we need for the feast,”

or to give something to the poor.

So Judas took the morsel and left at once. And it was night.

When he had left, Jesus said,

“Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him.

If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself,

and he will glorify him at once.

My children, I will be with you only a little while longer.

You will look for me, and as I told the Jews,

‘Where I go you cannot come,’ so now I say it to you.”

Simon Peter said to him, “Master, where are you going?”

Jesus answered him,

“Where I am going, you cannot follow me now,

though you will follow later.”

Peter said to him,

“Master, why can I not follow you now? 

I will lay down my life for you.”

Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me?

Amen, amen, I say to you, the cock will not crow

before you deny me three times.”

Catholic Church Mass Readings for Monday, March 29, 2021: Monday of Holy Week

Catholic Church Mass Readings for Monday, March 29, 2021: Monday of Holy Week

Lectionary: 257

Reading I

Is 42:1-7

Here is my servant whom I uphold,

    my chosen one with whom I am pleased,

Upon whom I have put my Spirit;

    he shall bring forth justice to the nations,

Not crying out, not shouting,

    not making his voice heard in the street.

A bruised reed he shall not break,

    and a smoldering wick he shall not quench,

Until he establishes justice on the earth;

    the coastlands will wait for his teaching.

Thus says God, the LORD,

    who created the heavens and stretched them out,

    who spreads out the earth with its crops,

Who gives breath to its people

    and spirit to those who walk on it:

I, the LORD, have called you for the victory of justice,

    I have grasped you by the hand;

I formed you, and set you

    as a covenant of the people,

    a light for the nations,

To open the eyes of the blind,

    to bring out prisoners from confinement,

    and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness.

Responsorial Psalm

27:1, 2, 3, 13-14

R.    (1a)  The Lord is my light and my salvation.

The LORD is my light and my salvation;

    whom should I fear?

The LORD is my life’s refuge;

    of whom should I be afraid?

R.    The Lord is my light and my salvation.

When evildoers come at me

    to devour my flesh,

My foes and my enemies

    themselves stumble and fall.

R.    The Lord is my light and my salvation.

Though an army encamp against me,

    my heart will not fear;

Though war be waged upon me,

    even then will I trust. 

R.    The Lord is my light and my salvation.

I believe that I shall see the bounty of the LORD

    in the land of the living.

Wait for the LORD with courage;

    be stouthearted, and wait for the LORD.

R.    The Lord is my light and my salvation.

 

Verse before the Gospel

Hail to you, our King;

you alone are compassionate with our faults.

Gospel

Jn 12:1-11

Six days before Passover Jesus came to Bethany,

where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.

They gave a dinner for him there, and Martha served,

while Lazarus was one of those reclining at table with him. 

Mary took a liter of costly perfumed oil

made from genuine aromatic nard

and anointed the feet of Jesus and dried them with her hair;

the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. 

Then Judas the Iscariot, one of his disciples,

and the one who would betray him, said,

“Why was this oil not sold for three hundred days’ wages

and given to the poor?”

He said this not because he cared about the poor

but because he was a thief and held the money bag

and used to steal the contributions.

So Jesus said, “Leave her alone.

Let her keep this for the day of my burial.

You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”

The large crowd of the Jews found out that he was there and came,

not only because of him, but also to see Lazarus,

whom he had raised from the dead.

And the chief priests plotted to kill Lazarus too,

because many of the Jews were turning away

and believing in Jesus because of him.

Catholic Church Mass Readings for Saturday, March 20, 2021: Saturday of the Fourth Week of Lent

Catholic Church Mass Readings for Saturday, March 20, 2021: Saturday of the Fourth Week of Lent

Lectionary: 249

Reading I

Jer 11:18-20

I knew their plot because the LORD informed me;

at that time you, O LORD, showed me their doings.

Yet I, like a trusting lamb led to slaughter,

had not realized that they were hatching plots against me:

“Let us destroy the tree in its vigor;

let us cut him off from the land of the living,

so that his name will be spoken no more.”

    But, you, O LORD of hosts, O just Judge,

        searcher of mind and heart,

    Let me witness the vengeance you take on them,

        for to you I have entrusted my cause!

Responsorial Psalm

7:2-3, 9bc-10, 11-12

R.    (2a) O Lord, my God, in you I take refuge.

O LORD, my God, in you I take refuge;

    save me from all my pursuers and rescue me,

Lest I become like the lion’s prey,

    to be torn to pieces, with no one to rescue me.

R.    O Lord, my God, in you I take refuge.

Do me justice, O LORD, because I am just,

    and because of the innocence that is mine.

Let the malice of the wicked come to an end,

    but sustain the just,

    O searcher of heart and soul, O just God.

R.    O Lord, my God, in you I take refuge.

A shield before me is God,

    who saves the upright of heart;

A just judge is God,

    a God who punishes day by day.

R.    O Lord, my God, in you I take refuge.

Verse before the Gospel

See Lk 8:15

Blessed are they who have kept the word with a generous heart

and yield a harvest through perseverance.

Gospel

Jn 7:40-53

Some in the crowd who heard these words of Jesus said,

“This is truly the Prophet.”

Others said, “This is the Christ.”

But others said, “The Christ will not come from Galilee, will he?

Does not Scripture say that the Christ will be of David’s family

and come from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?”

So a division occurred in the crowd because of him.

Some of them even wanted to arrest him,

but no one laid hands on him.

So the guards went to the chief priests and Pharisees,

who asked them, “Why did you not bring him?”

The guards answered, “Never before has anyone spoken like this man.”

So the Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived?

Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him?

But this crowd, which does not know the law, is accursed.”

Nicodemus, one of their members who had come to him earlier, said to them, 

“Does our law condemn a man before it first hears him

and finds out what he is doing?”

They answered and said to him,

“You are not from Galilee also, are you?

Look and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.”

Then each went to his own house.

Catholic Church Readings for Mass Wednesday, March 17, 2021: Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Lent

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Catholic Church Readings for Wednesday, March 17, 2021: Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Lent

Lectionary: 246

Reading I

Is 49:8-15

    Thus says the LORD:

In a time of favor I answer you,

    on the day of salvation I help you;

    and I have kept you and given you as a covenant to the people,

To restore the land

    and allot the desolate heritages,

Saying to the prisoners: Come out!

To those in darkness: Show yourselves!

Along the ways they shall find pasture,

    on every bare height shall their pastures be.

They shall not hunger or thirst,

    nor shall the scorching wind or the sun strike them;

For he who pities them leads them

    and guides them beside springs of water.

I will cut a road through all my mountains,

    and make my highways level.

See, some shall come from afar,

    others from the north and the west,

    and some from the land of Syene.

Sing out, O heavens, and rejoice, O earth,

    break forth into song, you mountains.

For the LORD comforts his people

    and shows mercy to his afflicted.

But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me;

    my Lord has forgotten me.”

Can a mother forget her infant,

    be without tenderness for the child of her womb?

Even should she forget,

    I will never forget you.

Responsorial Psalm

145:8-9, 13cd-14, 17-18

R.    (8a)  The Lord is gracious and merciful.

The LORD is gracious and merciful,

    slow to anger and of great kindness.

The LORD is good to all

    and compassionate toward all his works.

R.    The Lord is gracious and merciful.

The LORD is faithful in all his words

    and holy in all his works.

The LORD lifts up all who are falling

    and raises up all who are bowed down.

R.    The Lord is gracious and merciful.

The LORD is just in all his ways

    and holy in all his works.

The LORD is near to all who call upon him,

    to all who call upon him in truth.

R.    The Lord is gracious and merciful.

Verse before the Gospel

Jn 11:25a, 26

I am the resurrection and the life, says the Lord;

whoever believes in me will never die.

Gospel

Jn 5:17-30

Jesus answered the Jews: 

“My Father is at work until now, so I am at work.”

For this reason they tried all the more to kill him,

because he not only broke the sabbath

but he also called God his own father, making himself equal to God.

Jesus answered and said to them,

“Amen, amen, I say to you, the Son cannot do anything on his own,

but only what he sees the Father doing;

for what he does, the Son will do also.

For the Father loves the Son

and shows him everything that he himself does,

and he will show him greater works than these,

so that you may be amazed.

For just as the Father raises the dead and gives life,

so also does the Son give life to whomever he wishes.

Nor does the Father judge anyone,

but he has given all judgment to the Son,

so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father.

Whoever does not honor the Son

does not honor the Father who sent him.

Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever hears my word

and believes in the one who sent me

has eternal life and will not come to condemnation,

but has passed from death to life.

Amen, amen, I say to you, the hour is coming and is now here

when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God,

and those who hear will live.

For just as the Father has life in himself,

so also he gave to the Son the possession of life in himself.

And he gave him power to exercise judgment,

because he is the Son of Man.

Do not be amazed at this,

because the hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs

will hear his voice and will come out,

those who have done good deeds

to the resurrection of life,

but those who have done wicked deeds

to the resurrection of condemnation.

“I cannot do anything on my own;

I judge as I hear, and my judgment is just,

because I do not seek my own will

but the will of the one who sent me.”

Catholic Church Readings for Sunday, March 14, 2021: Fourth Sunday of Lent

Catholic Church Readings for Sunday, March 14, 2021: Fourth Sunday of Lent

Year B

Lectionary: 32

Reading I

2 Chr 36:14-16, 19-23

In those days, all the princes of Judah, the priests, and the people 

added infidelity to infidelity, 

practicing all the abominations of the nations 

and polluting the LORD’s temple 

which he had consecrated in Jerusalem.

Early and often did the LORD, the God of their fathers, 

send his messengers to them, 

for he had compassion on his people and his dwelling place.

But they mocked the messengers of God, 

despised his warnings, and scoffed at his prophets, 

until the anger of the LORD against his people was so inflamed 

that there was no remedy.

Their enemies burnt the house of God,

tore down the walls of Jerusalem, 

set all its palaces afire, 

and destroyed all its precious objects.

Those who escaped the sword were carried captive to Babylon, 

where they became servants of the king of the Chaldeans and his sons

until the kingdom of the Persians came to power.

All this was to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah: 

“Until the land has retrieved its lost sabbaths, 

during all the time it lies waste it shall have rest 

while seventy years are fulfilled.”

In the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, 

in order to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah, 

the LORD inspired King Cyrus of Persia 

to issue this proclamation throughout his kingdom, 

both by word of mouth and in writing: 

“Thus says Cyrus, king of Persia: 

All the kingdoms of the earth

the LORD, the God of heaven, has given to me, 

and he has also charged me to build him a house 

in Jerusalem, which is in Judah.

Whoever, therefore, among you belongs to any part of his people, 

let him go up, and may his God be with him!”

Responsorial Psalm

137:1-2, 3, 4-5, 6

R. (6ab)  Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you!

By the streams of Babylon

    we sat and wept

    when we remembered Zion.

On the aspens of that land

    we hung up our harps.

R. Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you!

For there our captors asked of us

    the lyrics of our songs,

And our despoilers urged us to be joyous:

    “Sing for us the songs of Zion!”

R. Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you!

How could we sing a song of the LORD

    in a foreign land?

If I forget you, Jerusalem,

    may my right hand be forgotten!

R. Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you!

May my tongue cleave to my palate

    if I remember you not,

If I place not Jerusalem

    ahead of my joy.

R. Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you!

Reading II

Eph 2:4-10

Brothers and sisters:

God, who is rich in mercy, 

because of the great love he had for us, 

even when we were dead in our transgressions, 

brought us to life with Christ — by grace you have been saved —, 

raised us up with him, 

and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus, 

that in the ages to come 

He might show the immeasurable riches of his grace 

in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

For by grace you have been saved through faith, 

and this is not from you; it is the gift of God; 

it is not from works, so no one may boast.

For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the good works 

that God has prepared in advance,

that we should live in them

Verse Before the Gospel

Jn 3:16

God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,

so everyone who believes in him might have eternal life.

Gospel

Jn 3:14-21

Jesus said to Nicodemus:

“Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, 

so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 

so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, 

so that everyone who believes in him might not perish 

but might have eternal life.

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, 

but that the world might be saved through him.

Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, 

but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, 

because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

And this is the verdict,

that the light came into the world, 

but people preferred darkness to light,

because their works were evil.

For everyone who does wicked things hates the light

and does not come toward the light, 

so that his works might not be exposed.

But whoever lives the truth comes to the light, 

so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.

Catholic Church Readings for Saturday, March 13, 2021: Saturday of the Third Week of Lent

Catholic Church Readings for Saturday, March 13, 2021: Saturday of the Third Week of Lent

Lectionary: 242

Reading I

Hos 6:1-6

“Come, let us return to the LORD,

    it is he who has rent, but he will heal us;

    he has struck us, but he will bind our wounds.

He will revive us after two days;

    on the third day he will raise us up,

    to live in his presence.

Let us know, let us strive to know the LORD;

    as certain as the dawn is his coming,

    and his judgment shines forth like the light of day!

He will come to us like the rain,

    like spring rain that waters the earth.”

What can I do with you, Ephraim?

What can I do with you, Judah?

Your piety is like a morning cloud,

    like the dew that early passes away.

For this reason I smote them through the prophets,

    I slew them by the words of my mouth;

For it is love that I desire, not sacrifice,

    and knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

Responsorial Psalm

51:3-4, 18-19, 20-21ab

R.    (see Hosea 6:6)  It is mercy I desire, and not sacrifice.

Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness;

    in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense.

Thoroughly wash me from my guilt

    and of my sin cleanse me.

R.    It is mercy I desire, and not sacrifice.

For you are not pleased with sacrifices;

    should I offer a burnt offering, you would not accept it.

My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit;

    a heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.

R.    It is mercy I desire, and not sacrifice.

Be bountiful, O LORD, to Zion in your kindness

    by rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem;

Then shall you be pleased with due sacrifices,

    burnt offerings and holocausts.

R.    It is mercy I desire, and not sacrifice.

Verse before the Gospel

Ps 95:8

If today you hear his voice,

harden not your hearts.

Gospel

Lk 18:9-14

Jesus addressed this parable

to those who were convinced of their own righteousness

and despised everyone else.

“Two people went up to the temple area to pray;

one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector.

The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself,

‘O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity — 

greedy, dishonest, adulterous — or even like this tax collector.

I fast twice a week,

and I pay tithes on my whole income.’

But the tax collector stood off at a distance

and would not even raise his eyes to heaven

but beat his breast and prayed,

‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’

I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former;

for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled,

and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Catholic Church Readings for Friday, March 12, 2021: Friday of the Third Week of Lent

Catholic Church Readings for Friday, March 12, 2021: Friday of the Third Week of Lent

Lectionary: 241

Reading I

Hos 14:2-10

    Thus says the LORD:

Return, O Israel, to the LORD, your God;

    you have collapsed through your guilt.

Take with you words,

    and return to the LORD;

Say to him, “Forgive all iniquity,

    and receive what is good, that we may render

    as offerings the bullocks from our stalls.

Assyria will not save us,

    nor shall we have horses to mount;

We shall say no more, ‘Our god,’

    to the work of our hands;

    for in you the orphan finds compassion.”

I will heal their defection, says the LORD,

    I will love them freely;

    for my wrath is turned away from them.

I will be like the dew for Israel:

    he shall blossom like the lily;

He shall strike root like the Lebanon cedar,

    and put forth his shoots.

His splendor shall be like the olive tree

    and his fragrance like the Lebanon cedar.

Again they shall dwell in his shade

    and raise grain;

They shall blossom like the vine,

    and his fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon.

Ephraim! What more has he to do with idols?

    I have humbled him, but I will prosper him.

“I am like a verdant cypress tree”– 

    Because of me you bear fruit!

Let him who is wise understand these things;

    let him who is prudent know them.

Straight are the paths of the LORD,

    in them the just walk,

    but sinners stumble in them.

Responsorial Psalm

81:6c-8a, 8bc-9, 10-11ab, 14 and 17

R.    (see 11 and 9a)  I am the Lord your God: hear my voice.

An unfamiliar speech I hear:

    “I relieved his shoulder of the burden;

    his hands were freed from the basket.

In distress you called, and I rescued you.”

R.    I am the Lord your God: hear my voice.

“Unseen, I answered you in thunder;

    I tested you at the waters of Meribah.

Hear, my people, and I will admonish you;

    O Israel, will you not hear me?”

R.    I am the Lord your God: hear my voice.

“There shall be no strange god among you

     nor shall you worship any alien god.

I, the LORD, am your God

    who led you forth from the land of Egypt.”

R.    I am the Lord your God: hear my voice.

“If only my people would hear me,

    and Israel walk in my ways,

I would feed them with the best of wheat,

    and with honey from the rock I would fill them.”

R.    I am the Lord your God: hear my voice.

Verse before the Gospel

Mt 4:17

Repent, says the Lord;

the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Gospel

Mk 12:28-34

One of the scribes came to Jesus and asked him,

“Which is the first of all the commandments?”

Jesus replied, “The first is this:

    Hear, O Israel!

    The Lord our God is Lord alone!

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, 

    with all your soul, 

    with all your mind, 

    and with all your strength.

The second is this:

    You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

There is no other commandment greater than these.”

The scribe said to him, “Well said, teacher.

You are right in saying,

    He is One and there is no other than he.

And to love him with all your heart,

    with all your understanding, 

    with all your strength,

    and to love your neighbor as yourself

is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

And when Jesus saw that he answered with understanding,

he said to him,

“You are not far from the Kingdom of God.”

And no one dared to ask him any more questions.